In this article, we will see the answer to the question ‘When was Apple founded?’ and we will see the history of Apple.
Apple History
You have to live under a rock if you are unaware of the company Apple. The tech giant dominates the smartphone, laptop, and various tech wearable markets for decades now. With over 46% market share in just the smartphones department in the United States, it is not at all bizarre to say that every second person owns an Apple device. Today, however, we will look at the company history and how it came forward to become arguably the number one tech giant in recent history.
We will start with the basic questions like when was apple founded then dwell deeper into the company’s rise in the industry.
When was Apple Founded?
Apple was founded on April 1, 1976, by the founder’s Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak under the name of Apple Computers Co. and it was incorporated on the 3rd of January, 1977. They entered the market to release Wozniak’s desktop computer which aimed to make computers small and compact enough to keep them in people’s homes and offices. After releasing the iPod Music and iTunes Music Store by 2003, Apple became massive dominators in the electronics and media industry and thus later dropped the tag “Computers” from their company name in 2007 just before releasing their first iPhone.
Steve Jobs – The most influential man in recent tech history
Wozniak left the company in 1983 and then John Sculley joined to be the president of the company. However, in 1985 tensions were high between Sculley and Jobs leading to Jobs leaving Apple and finding a new venture called NeXT Software. Jobs however rejoined the board in 1997 when his company was bought by Apple and eventually became the CEO in the following year. This was the start of Apple’s dominance in the tech industry so it’s no surprise that Jobs was a massive influence in that.
Steve Jobs’ Philosophy
Steve Jobs is known to be a perfectionist who wasn’t always the easiest person to please. Apple’s iPad still doesn’t have a calculator app to this day just because Jobs didn’t find the original UI intuitive and user-friendly enough in 2010 so he asked the developers to either make it better looking or just scrap the app. A similar situation also happened before when he scrapped the OpenDoc by Apple released in 1992 as it was not intuitive enough. After his return to Apple in 1992, he instilled a new philosophy to make products with simple designs and easy-to-use interfaces which are also pleasing to the eyes, starting with the Original iMac released in 1998. One of his most famous quotes is “Stay Hungry, Stay Foolish” a philosophy he for sure lived by until his last day.
Steve Jobs’ Influence on the world
People are not shy to claim that Jobs changed the world. And while at first, it may seem a grotesque statement, it is very much true up to an extent. The impact he had with Apple created a tech culture across various companies as seen by the after-effects of various products launched. The iPad revolutionized computing and the iPhone was something that changed the mobile phone’s market forever. Jobs’ reputation has reached such a level that there are so many successful people right now who were claimed as the “Next Steve Jobs” or the “New Steve Jobs” at some point in their lives.
Apple’s Rise in the Industry
After reading about the most influential man in the company’s history, let’s look at how Apple defeated the early plethora of upcoming tech giants to establish their dominance and become the most known tech company in the world. We’re going to look at their history in two phases: The pre-iPod history and the post iPod history.
Apple: Pre iPod era (1976-2001)
Clear from their name ‘Apple Computer Comp.’ during that time, the company was focused around computers only in that era. Their first product was the original Apple I desktop computer later followed by the release of follow-ups Apple II, Macintosh, and Power Mac lines. Apple faced difficulties in the market in the 1990s demonstrated by its low market share at that time. With founders Jobs and Wozniak left the company by the 90s and their main rivals at that time capitalizing on the lack of innovation, Apple fell off hard. The situation kept on being bad until Apple acquired Jobs’ company NeXT which resulted in Jobs coming back in and stabilizing the company while also bringing back the innovation it had lacked in his absence. 1997-2001 was the period Apple made its comeback helped by Jobs’ arrival, the Microsoft tie-up, and the release of its new Mac lineup.
Apple: Post iPod era (2001-Present Day)
Apple announced its iPod in 2001, a portable music player, and iTunes music services in 2003. The iPod gave enormous financial aid to the company as Apple had a 76% market share in the portable music device segment by 2005, Apple earned around $400 million in the first quarter of that year which was almost 8 times the earnings in the same quarter last year. In 2003, Apple opened its first Apple Store outside of America, in Tokyo. After changing the name from Apple Computers Inc. to just Apple Inc., the company launched the iOS, iPhone, and the iPad in 2007-2011 beginning the era of it being the market leader. They followed up with the launch of products in the tech wearable sector with the launch of the Apple Watch and Airpods in the following era. At the present, Apple holds a 14.1% global market share in the smartphones market. This number has been on a constant decline due to the rise of different Chinese companies like Xiaomi, Oneplus, and more in recent years.
